Context
In the heart of Zambia, Kafue National Park is the scene of increasingly frequent and severe conflicts between local populations and elephants. As the population grows, farmland is expanding into elephant habitat. In their search for food elephants sometimes trample and consume the crops of farming families.
Among the crops most prized by the pachyderms is maize. A preference that poses a significant challenge in the region, as maize is the cornerstone of the Zambian diet. In a single night, a herd of elephants can destroy a field and threaten a family’s food security for an entire year.
Reconciling the legitimate interests of local populations to make a living from their farmland while ensuring the protection of elephants is therefore a major concern. This is the challenge of the “Sowers of Coexistence” project, carried out in partnership with the Melindika association between 2022 and 2023.
The project
The aim of this pilot project was to find solutions that would lead to peaceful coexistence between the two species, by taking into account all the stakeholders in the area, thinking collectively and experimenting in real-life situations with some of the methods devised.
Among the methods studied: the installation of biological barriers consisting of beehives, non palatable crops (such as sunflower), human guarding, or the creation of an ecological corridor to enable elephants to migrate and delimit the edges of farms.
